STAR SHIPS VERSUS PEDESTRIANS: SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY IN LATVIAN LITERATURE UNDER THE SOVIET REGIME

• Authors: Simsone B.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The present paper is devoted to tracking the ambivalent attitude of Soviet literary critics towards the science fiction and fantasy literature published in one of the republics of the USSR, namely, Latvia. The paper discusses the forewords and epilogues of the science fiction and fantasy books published in Latvian as manifestos of Soviet ideology as far as imagination was concerned and points out the differing attitudes toward both genres. Science fiction was turned into a tool for promoting dialectical materialism and Soviet ideals, whereas fantasy was deliberately silenced as a genre since these principles could not be applied to it. The paper concludes that this fifty-year-long discrimination has left its mark on the present-day situation of Latvian culture and literature.

Keywords

EN

FANTASY LITERATURE (LATVIA); SCIENCE FICTION (LATVIA); SOVIET IDEOLOGY

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: EPC Ltd (Economic Prognosis Centre), Riga, Latvia (till March 2009 - Institute of Economics, Latvian Academy of Sciences, Ltd)
• Journal: Humanities and Social Sciences: Latvia
• Year: 2007
• Issue: 4(53)
• Pages: 57-66
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Simsone B.

• B. Simsone, c/o Institute of Economics, Latvian Academy of Sciences, 1 Akademijas laukums, Riga, LV 1050, Latvia

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08LVAAAA03807627